The Suffragents is the story of how some of New York’s men formed the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage. The organization grew between 1909 and 1917 from 150 founding members into a force of thousands across thirty-five states.

Author Brooke Kroeger explores the formation of the League, the men themselves, what they did and why. She details the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s strategic decision to accept their organized help and then to deploy these influential new allies as suffrage foot soldiers, a role they accepted with uncommon grace. The advocated included Oswald Garrison Villard, John Dewey, Max Eastman, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and George Foster Peabody and others. Members of the League worked the streets, the stage, the press, and the legislative and executive branches of government.

“Not all the suffragists who risked ridicule to march down Fifth Avenue in the big parades touting votes for women wore dresses. Brooke Kroeger meticulously documents the largely unsung role of men who publicly supported their wives, mothers, sisters, or lovers in the final dramatic decade of women’s seventy-year battle for the ballot.” — Linda J. Lumsden, author of Inez: The Life and Times of Inez Milholland and Rampant Women: Suffragists and the Right of Assembly. Brooke Kroeger is Professor at the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her books include Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist.

The State of New York launched the 100th anniversary of women voting in the state on March 1, 2017 with a women’s history exhibit up for public view for thirty days. Now the “Spirit of 1776” wagon has been moved over to the New York State Museum where it is promoting the large women’s suffrage exhibit at the museum in November 2017. That exhibit will be on view through May 2018.

IN OTHER NEWS: The 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial has a Facebook page. The Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative (WVCI) is a collaborative effort created to share information and stimulate activities around the country in the years leading up to 2020. It is run by a volunteer task force, that represents the various segments of the historical women’s suffrage movement, contemporary women’s organizations, and scholars. For more information.

Amazon Studios has acquired Victoria Woodhull, with Oscar-winning Room star Brie Larson poised to produce, and play the first female candidate for the presidency of the United States. Amazon bought it in a pitch package deal. Woodhull, a suffrage activist, was the first woman to run and be nominated for President of the United States in 1872, more than 40 years before women had the right to vote.

SUFFRAGE MUSICAL CONCERT: Telos Trio, a musical group consisting of flute, clarinet, and piano based in Rochester, NY has two events, May 12 and July 15, to add to the suffrage centennial calendar. “Equality Now: Celebrating the New York Centennial of Women’s Suffrage” musically traces the history of women’s suffrage from 1840 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London to New York State approving women’s voting in 1917.

Concerts on May 12 at 7:30 pm in Rochester and July 15 at 7 pm in Seneca Falls will include “Equality Now!”, a work written for the Telos Trio by Gwyneth Walker and receiving its world premiere on May 12. It celebrates the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848. The May 12th event is scheduled at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, 50 N Plymouth Ave, Rochester, NY 14614/ Tickets: $15/adults, $5/students and seniors; $30 VIP ticket includes pre-concert event at 6:30 pm: Conversation and Refreshments with Gwyneth Walker.

A red carpet was rolled out for me when I showed up recently for VIP night at Suffrage Wagon Café. The room was filled with those of us who have kept the faith since I started blogging in 2009 (SuffrageWagon.org) about voting rights activism.

The focus has been on my grandmother, Edna Kearns (1882-1934), and her “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon used in parades and as a speakers’ platform for grassroots organizing. The wagon is now on exhibit in Albany, NY.

The web site and social media have been making available resources and information to teachers, students, historians, policymakers, citizens, and many others. This is why the VIP dinner was so memorable.

A MEMORABLE EVENING CELEBRATING AN ACCOMPLISHMENT

As guest of honor, I had my choice of California organic white table wine and anything on the international menu. I chose tofu nuggets and veggies (snow peas, Shitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots) in an orange sauce. I was in heaven. Imagine my surprise when the dish arrived with chopsticks almost a foot long.

The vegetables absorbed the orange sauce which was light enough to give them character and strong enough to compete with tofu nuggets. The blend had me sighing with pleasure especially when flavored with a dab of Chinese-style mustard.

The mushrooms featured the gamey taste Shitaki mushrooms are known for, along with the promise of a boost to my immune system. Their orange flavor added to the rush of taste. In between bites, I sipped on white wine to clear my palate and smiled before spearing another tofu nugget with its rich and earthy flavor. Although I had no room for dessert, a take-home box of the main dish and pineapple upside down cake saved me from food preparation the following day.

SUFFRAGE WAGON CAFE OPENED IN 2015 DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am the host of Suffrage Wagon Café. Suffrage Wagon Cooking School and the café have been part of my mission of sharing stories about a pivotal time in our past.

Suffrage Wagon Café opened during Women’s History Month in 2015. During two years of the cafe showering attention on women’s history by unique programming, I’ve observed an enormous shift.

As recently as two years ago, puzzled looks greeted me when I said I loved writing and speaking about the women’s suffrage movement. I endured questions and smirks, including “Does suffrage hurt?” I must have said on a thousand occasions: “Suffrage refers to the right to vote.”

More people are paying attention to women’s history and our past, not because it’s just a cool thing to do. It has more to do with understanding what’s happening today and how we benefit from and are inspired by the strong shoulders on which we stand.

KEEP THE SPIRIT OF THE JANUARY 2017 WOMEN’S MARCH ALIVE!

Celebrate women’s freedom to vote by keeping the spirit of the January 2017 Washington, DC march alive. Pass on the news of the Suffrage Wagon Café and support the ongoing programs to honor those who have persisted in the journey toward equality, sustainability, and social justice.

Now that the 2017 state suffrage centennial has been launched, the next step is to plan a trip to touch into some of the festivities. SuffrageCentennials.com is one source for news and events. State events are being viewed as getting prepared for 2020, the national suffrage centennial observance when women will have been voting for 100 years. Also underway is progress on the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would guarantee equal rights for American women.

The ERA Coalition has announced the Nevada legislature’s vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Many Americans believe the Constitution already guarantees women equal rights, but it doesn’t. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by 35 states, three states short of the 38 needed to put an amendment in the Constitution. Nevada’s action to ratify the ERA, the first such vote since 1977, highlights the growing awareness of and support for the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA Coalition stresses the need to help combat pay inequity, pregnancy discrimination, and gender-based violence.

In North Carolina, legislation to ratify the ERA was introduced in the state Senate and House in February 2017. Ten local resolutions in support of this legislation have already been passed. Ongoing recent efforts to ratify the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment include bills in Illinois, Virginia, Florida and Utah.

“Sex equality is good for men, families, and communities, as well as women” said Jessica Neuwirth, President of the ERA Coalition. “We are way behind the rest of the world in prohibiting sex discrimination in our Constitution – it’s long overdue.” The ERA Coalition represents 73 member organizations and millions of women and men who are working for passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and for greater public understanding of the need for equal treatment of women under the law. For more information: eracoalition.org.

NYS Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul launched the 100th anniversary of women voting in the state by announcing the Women’s Suffrage Commission’s website: www.ny.gov/suffrage. It provides information about upcoming events across the state, profiles New York suffragists, and draws attention to historic destinations relevant to the suffrage movement and women’s rights.

“This month, we celebrate the critical role that New York played in the fight for a woman’s right to vote from the Seneca Falls Convention all the way to the passage of the Women’s Equality Agenda in 2015 because in New York we know that women’s rights are human rights,” Governor Cuomo said. “I encourage all New Yorkers and visitors alike to visit one of these exhibits and trace the historic timeline that New York’s women pioneered and to learn about the obstacles that they conquered in the fight for equality.”

New York was home to the first-ever Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, on July 19 and 20, 1848 and organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Sixty-nine years later, on Nov. 6, 1917, women in New York State won the right to vote.

THE LEGACY OF SENECA FALLS, NEW YORK

“New York women have an enduring legacy in the pursuit of equal rights that began nearly 170 years ago in Seneca Falls, and as a result of their advocacy this state passed women’s suffrage three years before the rest of the nation. This year we celebrate the accomplishments of the women who led the fight for equality, setting the stage for future battles against workplace discrimination, in support of pay equity, and to preserve a woman’s right to make decisions about her health care,” said NYS Women’s Suffrage Commission Chair, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “As the state’s highest ranking elected woman, I consider it my mission to inspire the next generation of women to rise up and shape a more just, equitable society.”

The 14-member NYS Women’s Suffrage Commission chaired by Kathy Hochul, will plan and execute a series of statewide programs starting in 2017 and lasting through 2020.

As part of New York’s recognition of Women’s History Month, a number of exhibits will be available for public viewing in both the Empire State Plaza and the New York State Capitol Building. The exhibit “Women’s Suffrage in New York State,” located in the Capitol corridor which connects the state house to the Empire State Plaza, includes imagery of pro- and anti-suffrage propaganda with historic photographs of the women who organized and marched until the vote was won.

“SPIRIT OF 1776” SUFFRAGE WAGON ON VIEW ON SECOND FLOOR OF STATE CAPITOL

The exhibit, “New York State Women’s Suffrage 1917 – 2017 | The Fight for the Vote and the March for Full Equality,” is located in the East Gallery on the second floor of the Capitol and traces the almost 70-year struggle for the vote. The exhibit highlights the lives of 12 influential Suffragists and the critical role they played in securing the vote by African Americans and working women. This month-long exhibit features the “Spirit of 1776” wooden suffrage wagon in which a Long Island suffragist edna Kearns and her eight-year-old daughter traveled throughout Long Island and Manhattan during the summer of 1913 to gather support for votes for women, a 1917 banner carried by suffragists, as well as Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 1854 address to the New York State Legislature.

One of the highlights of the New York State Capitol is the Great Western Staircase featuring a gallery of historic Americans brought to life in elaborate stone carvings. As the staircase was nearing completion, it was observed that not one famous woman was represented. Located in the area just outside the Empire State Plaza Visitor Center and Gift Shop this exhibit will feature photographs of the six carvings of women that were added to the staircase: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Clara Barton, Frances E. Willard, Molly Pitcher, Elmina Spencer, and Susan B. Anthony. Also on view outside the Visitor Center is the mural Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad created by students from the Monroe Community College Art Department in Rochester, NY.

STATE CAPITOL TOURS FEATURING SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT ARE A HIGHLIGHT

Throughout March, special one-hour Capitol tours focusing on the suffrage movement are available to visitors. The tours feature artifacts selected to showcase the suffragists’ journey. For more information about the Capitol tours, visit www.empirestateplaza.org.

Find out about the vote that changed history with the broadcast premiere of Perfect 36: When Women Won the Vote distributed through American Public Television. This half-hour documentary will air in March 2017 for Women’s History Month. One of the pivotal moments in U.S. history came in 1920 with passage of the 19th Amendment, an event celebrated in Perfect 36: When Women Won the Vote that tells the insightful, engaging, and colorful story behind Tennessee’s role as the crucial 36th state needed for ratification—and the vote of one man who made it possible.

OTHER NEWS: Women’s Rights National Historical Park has partnered with the Seward House Museum in Auburn, NY to present a program titled “Seward Feminism” in the National Park Visitor Center’s Guntzel Theater on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at 1 p.m. Although often overlooked because of Secretary of State William Henry Seward’s high profile, the women of the Seward family contributed significantly to the spirit of reform sweeping through mid-19th-century America. Women’s Rights National Historic Park is open Friday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit their website or call (315) 568-2991. The Women’s Rights National Historical Park is located at 136 Fall Street, Seneca Falls, NY.